Devon Wildlife Trust Cinnabar moths start life as yellow and black caterpillars and are particularly fond of munching on ragwort plants. Their bright colours warn predators that they’re poisonous, but they only build up their poison after feeding on the ragwort. The caterpillars spend the winter as cocoons on the ground before emerging as moths in the summer. Cinnabar moths can be seen flying during the day and night and are often mistaken for butterflies.
How to identify
The cinnabar is slate-black with two red spots and two pinky-red stripes on the rounded forewings. Its hindwings are pinky-red and bordered with black. It can be distinguished from the similar burnet moths by its broader wings and red bars instead of spots.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/moths/cinnabar
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Buglife If you go down to the woodland glade, you might be lucky enough to see a Violet oil beetle (Meloe violaceus). They began their emergence in March and will soon peak in numbers making April the perfect time to find one of these iridescent insects.
Of the four remaining species of British oil beetle, the Violet oil beetle has the most varied habitat preferences and can be found in woodland edge habitats, glades and rides, upland moorlands and on flower-rich grasslands.
Violet oil beetles have a striking appearance despite their underlying black coloration, as light is refracted off their lustrous carapace to give them a purple, blue or green sheen. When they first emerge as adults, their abdomen is small and compact but, as they gorge themselves on lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) and soft grasses, their abdomen becomes distended and can extend some way beyond the tip of their wings. They can often be found sunning themselves on paths and females are sometimes seen digging burrows in patches of bare ground, in which they lay their eggs.
Juvenile Violet oil beetles are tiny, black, louse-like creatures that emerge in spring and lie in wait on flowers for solitary mining bees that visit the flowers to collect nectar and pollen. The triungulins take advantage of the mining bees, firstly by hitching a lift on their back, and again in the bees’ nest, by eating the food so diligently collected by the bee for its own young; the beetle equivalent of a cuckoo. Despite their coercive nature, Violet oil beetles are important for conservation as they are indicators of strong mining bee populations and of high quality, wildflower-rich habitats.
https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs/bug-directory/violet-oil-beetle/
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Devon Wildlife Trust The black-spotted longhorn beetle is found throughout most of the UK. They're usually seen in woodlands, or along hedgerows. The adult beetles often visit flowers to feed on nectar and pollen, particularly hawthorns and umbellifers. Female beetles lay their eggs on fallen dead wood, old stumps, or decaying trees. The larvae live beneath the bark, feeding on rotting wood. They can spend two or three years in this stage, before creating a little chamber of wood fibre in which to pupate. They pupate in late summer or early autumn, but the adults stay within their pupal chamber until spring.
How to identify
A mottled yellowish-brown and black beetle. It has two large black spots on its wing cases, with a pale band either side of each spot. The antennae are relatively short for a longhorn beetle.
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Devon Wildlife Trust The Large red damselfly is a medium-sized damselfly that lives around the edges of ponds, lakes, ditches and canals, and can also be found away from breeding sites in grassland and woodland. The earliest damselfly to emerge in the UK, it is on the wing from the end of April through to August. It is a regular visitor to gardens.
How to identify
Male Large red damselflies are bright red with a black thorax and black bands towards the end of the body. The amount of red and black on the females' abdomens varies, with some forms appearing almost entirely black. The similar Small red damselfly is a much rarer species that is only found on heathlands in the south of England and West Wales. It is smaller, more delicate and has less red than its larger relative.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/damselflies/large-red-damselfly
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Devon Wildlife Trust Purple moor-grass and rush pasture
This distinctive type of damp pasture is generally found on commons, as a component of lowland fen, or in undeveloped corners of otherwise intensively farmed landscapes.
In late spring and summer, the dark rushes contrast against the soft green of young purple-moor grass, and the sward is speckled yellow and purple with wildflowers; an important nectar source for a variety of uncommon insects. In the west of the country, look for the rare marsh fritillary butterfly where there is a mix of short grass and taller tussocks. Its caterpillars spin distinctive webs on or near its food plant (devil’s-bit scabious), which are easy to see in late summer. The elusive day-flying narrow-bordered bee-hawkmoth, a bumblebee mimic, may also be seen hovering at flowers on sunny days.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/habitats/grassland/purple-moor-grass-and-rush-pasture
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Devon Local Nature Partnership Devon whitebeam (Sorbus devoniensis) and allied species. Nationally Scarce, most of the allied species are Nationally Rare. Devon Whitebeam is endemic to the British Isles, being found nowhere else in the world. The tree is largely restricted to Devon (especially north Devon) and to a small area of south-east Ireland. In Devon most trees occur in hedges, although some grow open woodland. The species is representative of a suite of other rare or scarce whitebeams restricted wholly or mainly to Devon, including English Whitebeam Sorbus anglica, Grey-leaved Whitebeam Sorbus porrigentiformis, Rock Whitebeam Sorbus rupicola, Bloody Whitebeam Sorbus vexans, Slender Whitebeam Sorbus subcuneata, Watersmeet Whitebeam Sorbus admonitor and Margeret’s Whitebeam Sorbus margaretae. The county population of Devon Whitebeam appears stable, with new sites being found every year. Natural regeneration was noted under two trees on Roborough Common in 2018. Populations of allied species are probably stable too, although some of these are very small.
https://www.devonlnp.org.uk/joint-initiatives/special-species/
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Butterfly Conservation It is worth looking up at prominent Ash trees along wood edges to see if small clusters of adults may be flitting around. They congregate to mate and feed on aphid honeydew. Adults also sometimes feed lower down on flowers such as Hemp-agrimony, Common Fleabane and Bramble. The females are most frequently seen as they disperse widely along hedgerows where they lay conspicuous white eggs on young Blackthorn shoots.
The butterfly often rests with its wings closed showing orange-brown underwings with two wavy white streaks and small tails. Uppersides are brown with an orange mark.
It is locally distributed in southern Britain and mid-west Ireland and has undergone a substantial decline due to hedgerow removal and annual flailing, which removes eggs.
https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/brown-hairstreak
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Devon Wildlife Trust The Silver Y is a medium-sized moth that can be seen on warm days throughout the year, although it is most common during the late summer. At times, this migrant may be a very common visitor, especially in flowery grasslands, sand dunes and gardens. It can often be seen flying during the daytime, feeding on nectar from plants, such as Buddleia and Lavender, but also flies at night. The caterpillars feed on a wide variety of plants, including Stinging nettles, clover and cabbages. It breeds here, but the early stages cannot survive our winter.
How to identify
When at rest, the Silver Y holds its wings back along its body in a tent-like shape. The wings are patterned with dark grey, silver and brown, and display a characteristic, silver, Y-shaped mark on the forewings.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/moths/silver-y
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Devon Wildlife Trust A giant of the sea turtle world, leatherback turtles are ocean wanderers searching the seas for jellyfish. Unlike other sea turtles, leatherback turtles don’t mind the cold! This means they can dive to great depths where the water is a lot colder to get first pick of all the deep sea jellyfish.
This giant of the sea turtle world travels alone, only coming together with other turtles to breed. They lay their eggs on beaches and leave them unsupervised, leaving the baby turtles to make their way to the sea alone once they hatch. These unique animals are specially adapted to be able to cope with colder seas, which means they are able to dive to great depths in order to hunt deep sea jellyfish. They have an incredible (and slightly gruesome) way of making sure they never lose a meal – they have downward facing spines inside their throat that stops prey getting out! Unfortunately, the leatherback turtle can get confused and accidentally eat plastic bags or balloons as they look like jellyfish. These plastic items then get stuck in their throats and can cause serious health problems for the turtle.
How to Identify
A large black turtle with white dots all over the body, flippers and head. They have a lighter underbelly with a pink colouration on the underthroat and chin. Their front flippers can reach 2.5m. Other sea turtle species rarely visit UK waters, but are distinct from leatherbacks as they have a hard shell and are green/brown in colour. Leatherbacks lack a hard shell and have leathery skin covering their backs.
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Devon Wildlife Trust Our only venomous snake, the shy adder can be spotted basking in the sunshine in woodland glades and on heathlands. An adder bite is a very rare occurrence, and can be painful, but is almost never fatal.
The adder is a relatively small, stocky snake that prefers woodland, heathland and moorland habitats. It hunts lizards and small mammals, as well as ground-nesting birds, such as skylark and meadow pipit. In spring, male adders perform a 'dance' during which they duel to fend off competition to mate. Females incubate the eggs internally, 'giving birth' to three to twenty live young. Adders hibernate from October, emerging in the first warm days of March, which is the easiest time of year to find them basking on a log or under a warm rock.
How to Identify
The adder is a greyish snake, with a dark and very distinct zig-zag pattern down its back, and a red eye. Males tend to be more silvery-grey in colour, while females are more light or reddish-brown. Black (melanistic) forms are sometimes spotted.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/wildlife-explorer/reptiles/adder
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